She regarded the stone ledge on which they had sat yesterday.
“You can stretch out along it,” she said, “and relax better. You could get up from there, could you not?”
And so they lay side by side on their towels, though she was three feet below him on the beach. He shaded his eyes with one forearm.
“Are not ladies supposed to protect their complexions from the merest suggestion of sunlight?” he asked.
“I have the complexion of a Gypsy,” she said. “Even when I have not been in the sun people frown upon me because my face is not all porcelain and peaches and roses. Why bother depriving myself of feeling the heat and light of the sun on my face, then? You cannot know how irksome it was for almost four months to have to wear a black veil every time I set foot over the doorstep—when Ididstep outside, that was. Oh, Ben, there was not even any daylight in the house. Matilda insisted that the curtains be almost closed across every window. Sometimes, when she was not in the room with me, I used to stand in the band of daylight and breathe in gulps, as though I had been suffocating.”
“Those days are gone,” he said.
“Yes,” she agreed. “Thank God. And I amnotblaspheming.”
They were probably both going to end up with some sunburn. He did not care.
“Am I horribly wicked—?”
“No,” he said, not giving her time to finish.
“Just over five months ago,” she said, “Matthew was alive.”
“And just over five months ago,” he said, “you were spending every moment of your time with him, tending him and comforting him as well as you were able.”
“It is difficult to keep the world at bay, is it not?” she said. “I swore that I would not think of a thing while we were down here except the sheer enjoyment of being here.”
Without thinking he stretched down a hand toward her, and she took it and held it.
“You can come here whenever you want for the rest of your life,” he reminded her.
“But not with you.”
He could think of no answer to that, and she did not seem to want to elaborate. They lay for a while, hand in hand. Then she got to her feet and stood looking down at him. The front of her shift had dried. It did not cling quite so provocatively.
“I shall wonder about you for the rest of my life,” she said. “I shall wonder what happened to you. I shall wonder if you found what you were looking for. I suppose I will never know.”
“Perhaps,” he said, “you will write to my sister at some time in the future, when you feel more secure here.”
“Ah, yes, of course,” she said. “She will tell me about you. And then perhaps you will learn something of me too. If you wish to do so, that is.”
He took one of her hands in his again and drew it to his lips.
“It would not work for us, Samantha,” he said.
“No,” she agreed. “A mutual attraction is not enough, is it?”
He kissed her knuckles.
“But perhaps,” she said, her eyes on their hands, “just for a day—or two or three. Perhaps for a week. Can you bear to stay a week?”
He inhaled slowly. “Your grandfather is expected home in the next few days,” he said. “I suppose he will discover that you are living here. Perhaps he will choose to ignore you. Or perhaps not. Perhapsyouwill choose to ignorehim. However it is, I cannot bring myself to leave until…well, until things are more settled for you. I know you do not like me flexing my male muscles on your behalf. I know you can manage alone. But…”
“But you will stay anyway?”
“Yes,” he said. “For a few more days. A week.”
“Oh, Tramp.” She looked down at the dog, which was making loud lapping noises. “Is my leg salty and must be licked clean? You absurd dog.”
“He is a dog to be envied,” Ben said, and she looked back at him, startled, and laughed.
